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Talent Management Perspectives

Published February 2008

Podcast Your Way to Hiring Success

 

  Agatha Gilmore

With the threat of a talent shortage looming and the resulting need to recruit younger workers, many companies are turning to social networking tools such as MySpace, YouTube, Facebook and blogs to tap into the next generation of employees. Soon, however, candidates might be hearing even more from these organizations — literally.

With the introduction of corporate podcasting, often called "jobcasting," businesses are applying Web 2.0 technology in a new way to recruit key talent, this time using audio files to enhance written company and job descriptions.

"Recruiting is evolving," said Chris Russell, president and founder of Jobs in Pods, a jobcast outsourcing company. "Today's workforce, coming out of school, is used to this technology: They're on Facebook every day, they're on YouTube, they read blogs, they listen to podcasts on their iPods. If you can talk to them in the kind of medium they're comfortable with, that will go a long way towards them seeing you as an employer of choice."

According to new research, podcasts, which are digital audio files that can be streamed online or downloaded to an audio player, are becoming increasingly popular. One study found the podcast audience is doubling every three to four months, while another predicted almost 60 million people will tune in by 2010. Research by eMarketer found 30 percent of those listening are between the ages of 18 and 24, while half are 35 to 54 years old.

When applied to the business realm, podcasts can offer job seekers a general overview of the company or they can specifically target one area or job that needs filling. Either way, jobcasts provide candidates with a more personalized look into corporations' cultures, Russell said.

"By podcasting, you're really bringing your job to life; you're humanizing your company," he said. "It really lets you connect with that job seeker on a higher level, on a one-to-one level and engage him on his own turf."

A jobcast also has the potential to communicate a company's initiatives more effectively than a paper description. For example, when a particular utility company wanted to recruit more women, Russell said, it featured one of its female technicians in its audio clip, capturing her experiences and opinions in her own words.

"We always encourage employers to get their regular employees involved," Russell said. "We don't want to talk to just the HR manager or recruiter; we want to talk to people in the positions they're hiring for. That really will give job seekers a sense of what it's like to work at that job."

While Microsoft and Accenture have been podcasting in-house since 2005, many talent managers don't have the time or technology familiarity to do that, Russell said. So he created Jobs in Pods, which produces a variety of seven- to 10-minute audio clips for AT&T, Verizon, Intel, ZoomInfo, Exempla Healthcare, Veer and several Colorado-area businesses.

Clients are provided with a digital audio file to include on their corporate Web sites, while the clip also is maintained for one year on jobsinpods.com, the vendor's search-engine-friendly blog. Additionally, it's posted on other podcast directories, such as podcast.com and PodcastAlley.com, as well as on iTunes.